Cereal Strategies

Grab the Cheerios, or, to be brand neutral, oat cereal rings. Scatter a few on your baby's tray, and he'll try to pick them up and put them in his mouth. These may entertain him enough for you to slip in a few spoonfuls of mush in between bites.

Finger food can be a fun distraction. While your baby's busy getting the Cheerios near his mouth, you can be ready with the spoonful of squash or pears, waiting for that split second when he opens his mouth and doesn't yet have the Cheerio in place.

Cheerios are a popular food for nascent self-feeders for a number of reasons. First, they are made of oats rather than wheat, so allergies are unlikely to be an issue. Second, they are spit soluble and quickly soften into easy-to-swallow mush. They are also difficult to choke on and more likely to stick to your baby's mouth than to be inhaled. Third, they give your baby great practice at picking things up with his thumb and forefinger. This pincer grasp is a developmental milestone (see Chapter 16) that he is likely to be working on around the same time he becomes interested in self-feeding.

Another option is a teething biscuit. There are a number of varieties available, or you can make your own. Read the labels carefully, because some have a lot more sugar than others. Teething biscuits dissolve into mush as your baby gums them. (But don't leave your baby alone with one since large pieces can break off and pose a choking danger.)

Finger Food Buffet

There is no reason your self-feeder should have a boring diet. Provide him with a variety of foods to enhance nutrition and give him important experience with different tastes and textures. In addition to Cheerios, try (in baby-sized pieces): rice crackers; boiled, sliced carrots; cooked sweet potato sticks; thin slices of cheddar cheese sticks; plain yogurt; unsweetened applesauce.

Finger foods must be soft, break down into small pieces, and be easy to swallow. There are a host of fruits that meet those criteria, including cantaloupe, peaches, pears, plums, kiwis, avocados, and even apples, if they are first steamed or poached (slice them, add a spoonful of water, and cook them in the microwave). Just remove any peels and pits and cut into baby-bite-sized pieces. For vegetables like broccoli, squash, and carrots, steam or boil them until reasonably soft.

Pasta makes a great early finger food as long as you pick small shapes and cook them soft. Serve it plain, with tomato sauce, or even with pesto.

Breakfast foods are also good finger foods for any time of the day. Whole-grain waffles (purchased frozen and heated in the toaster), pancakes (use a whole-grain mix, make a batch, and freeze them; they are easily reheated in the microwave), and French toast (for babies under twelve months, make it with separated egg yolks mixed with formula or breastmilk). You can spread any of these with a fruit or vegetable puree to bump up the nutrition.

Whatever you're serving, give your baby only a few pieces at a time, and consider mealtime finished as soon as throwing the food on the floor becomes more interesting than putting it in his mouth.

The finger food stage can start as early as six months or not until several months later. It depends on your child's personality, for one. Babies with strong individual preferences and a lust for independence will move into this stage earlier than more easy-going babies. It also depends on the environment. If you don't mind a mess, your baby probably gets his hands into his cereal regularly, and that has already become his first finger food experience. If neatness is important to you and you are quick to wipe up spills, your baby may have gotten the message that he should keep his hands out of the way at mealtime.

Either way, by twelve months your baby will probably do most of his feeding himself. Most of that will be with his fingers — although he may begin to experiment with using a spoon, he probably won't be very successful yet.

Eggs

Doctors recommend that you wait until your baby is ten months old before introducing egg yolks into his diet. You should wait until your baby is at least a year old before offering him egg whites, as they often cause allergic reactions if introduced too early.

Honey

Honey is not recommended for infants under the age of twelve months, as it may carry botulism spores that can be deadly for babies. Even baking may not destroy these spores. While not all honey contains botulism spores, there's no reason to take the risk since babies don't need honey.